Stralsund University of Applied Sciences (HOST) is a family-friendly employer and place to study. This has been confirmed once again with the latest certification, the family-friendly university audit. “We have successfully passed the certification as a family-friendly university for the 8th time,” reports Silke Krumrey, Head of the Family Centre, “this is recognition of our many years of work and sustained commitment.” At HOST, this has many faces: the parent-child room, family-friendly committee times, individual study planning - it's multifaceted. And it is also necessary. “There are many small measures that make a university family-friendly, according to the different realities of life and needs of parents or, for example, carers,” explains Silke Krumrey, "and it's a big one: Seeing and respecting these realities of life. "The university wants to be a good place for its employees and students, a place that is easy to reconcile. This benefits the individual employee, but also the university as a whole: This means that parents or family caregivers who want to study can come to us and we are also more attractive as an employer for qualified specialists," explains the head of the Family Center. With the help of her federal volunteers and the support of colleagues, she manages the coordination and the ambitious program, which includes planting trees for new children of university members at the “Children and Trees Festival” and a STEM camp during the summer vacations.
Family-friendly measures at HOST
- Anchoring the commitment to family-friendly study and working conditions in the university's mission statement and in the university development plan
- Family-friendly committee and meeting times
- Very flexible service agreement for location-independent working
- Individual course planning and specific regulations in
- parent-child rooms with IT workstations and play and sleeping facilities for children, as well as mobile parent-child rooms in all faculty buildings.
- A wide range of health-promoting measures with crediting to working time accounts and variable working hours Examination and study regulations for students with family responsibilities
- Planting trees for new children of university members at the “Children and Trees Festival”
- STEM camp in the summer vacations for 'university children'
- Parent-child sports
- Children's laboratory for daycare centers / elementary school and at the university
- Advice on all topics relating to work-life balance
History of certification
HOST received its first certificate in 2006 for a period of three years and has been recertified each time since then by berufundfamilie Service GmbH, an initiative of the non-profit Hertie Foundation. Family friendliness is anchored in the university's mission statement and is one of its most important values. It is part of the university's philosophy and strategy. "In recent years, many structures have been created that provide university members with a stable and reliable basis for balancing studies or work and family life," says the head of the Center at HOST. HOST wants to establish a permanent family-friendly culture that promotes equal opportunities for students and employees with and without family responsibilities.
Outlook - What's next?
For the re-audit, the university also makes a kind of self-commitment and sets itself concrete goals for the coming period. This includes further specifying the vision of a family-friendly university, but also developing a common understanding with the faculties and deriving concrete further measures. Existing measures will also be put to the test: are they still up to date and what needs to be readjusted? - This starts with the loving and functional design of the parent-child room in House 3 and extends to regulations on working hours and working from any location. One major goal is to consider diversity. This cannot be done ad hoc and will start with developing a common understanding of the concept of diversity.
Charta „Familie in der Hochschule“
Since officially signing the “Family in the University” charter in June 2015, Stralsund University of Applied Sciences has been a member of the Family in the University association. Starting with this voluntary commitment and then joining the association, we declare our willingness to promote the compatibility of family responsibilities with studies, teaching, research and science-supporting activities. We also aim to exchange ideas on this topic with other member universities in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. To this end, HOST is involved in the working groups "Small and specialized universities", "Care", "Communication" and "Family-friendly study conditions". "We want to learn from good examples and raise public awareness of the issue of work-life balance," explains Silke Krumrey. The “Familie in der Hochschule” association is supported by the Center for Higher Education Development (CHE) and was funded by the Robert Bosch Stiftung.
